Microsoft violates company rights

Tom Manners

Tom Manners is now a freelance journalist, previously full-time at MyBroadband from 2009 to 2010. Tom focuses on cellular technologies, gadgets, mobile phones and broadcasting....

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Beijing’s No.1 Intermediate People’s Court found Microsoft had exceeded the scope of a previous agreement to use and sell fonts owned by Zhongyi Electronic Ltd, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing a Monday-dated judgment.

The decision came during US President Barack Obama’s visit to China and at a sensitive time in the trade relationship between the two countries. The US has been pressing China for tougher intellectual property law enforcement.

Microsoft installed and used the fonts in eight of its operating systems without express permission from Zhongyi, the court said, ordering Microsoft to stop producing and selling those operating systems in China.

Microsoft officials were not immediately available for comment. The case, which was filed in April 2007, apparently does not affect Microsoft’s latest operating systems, Vista and Windows 7, which went on sale last month.

The court rejected Zhongyi’s claim that Microsoft’s use of Zhengma software, which enables computer users to type Chinese characters using Western keyboards, also violated its intellectual property rights.

Microsoft violates company rights